Advocates want abortion ban lifted for Peace Corps volunteers

Thursday, 25 April 2013 13:14

f a Peace Corps volunteer is raped and becomes pregnant as a result, she has to pay for an abortion herself, because the federal government refuses to cover the cost.

Yet victims of rape or incest or women whose health is endangered by a pregnancy have long received insurance coverage for abortions if they work for the Peace Corps, along with other federal employees, federal prisoners and women on Medicaid. In January, women in the military got the same access.

But the ban for Peace Corps volunteers has been in place since 1979, when Congress attached a rider to the agency’s annual appropriation.

Recent scrutiny from Congress of sexual assaults in the humanitarian agency — and a growing number of volunteers who are speaking openly about their experiences, have emboldened the ban’s opponents.